Marketing Aquaculture Products — 1

Milwaukee, for example there is a noted chef
who has developed a business and an aggregator
for a select group of high end, what are
known in the trade as “white table-cloth” restaurants
wanting to buy local. Th is business is
termed an RSA (Restaurant-Supported Agriculture)
group similar to a CSA (Community-Supported
Agriculture). Aggregators do not play
the same game as the big brokers and distributors;
they develop very diff erent relationships
with their suppliers and clients. Th e aggregator/RSA
usually takes 5% of the wholesale cost
to cover their marketing, transportation and
other overhead expenses. If you are dealing
with a great aggregator and consider the old adage,
“time is money,” you may see that using an
aggregator is well worth the 5% additional cost
since it saves you time and money well beyond
the aggregator’s fee.
Of course, it is important to understand their
world and the rest of the distribution system in
their business terms, so let’s consider an overview
of the terminology and realities of largescale
food distribution.
Table stakes: Th is is your price list and product-specifi
cation sheets (spec sheets). Also, be
sure to enter into any meeting prepared with
a good promotional sample kit for sales personnel.
If you go into a meeting armed with a
quality sample kit, you communicate that you
are well prepared.
If you have your ducks in a row with respect to
table stakes, you will look professional, you will
be taken seriously, and you will have a lot of
points from which to develop a discussion that
30 — Marketing Aquaculture Products
may end with you making a deal. Here is short
list; we will then go into greater detail on some
of the more esoteric, but crucial points:
• Price list
• FOB price (price delivered to their
warehouse or distribution center)
• Spec sheets
• Quality guarantees or statements
• UPC Product codes (that accurately
refl ect the size, volume etc.)
• Point-of-purchase / Point-of-sale
devices
• 100% fi ll rates (for pallets, containers,
totes or similar shipping and storage
units)
• Terms (net-30, net-7, net-10 days)
• Order confi rmations (acknowledge
receipt initiate production, this will
generate a cut order)
• Cut notifi cations (perishable product
(e.g., fi sh, livestock) is being processed)
• Accurate invoicing (how you handle
bill-back and auto-deduct marketing
fees; these systems allow for
promotions and incentives by
distributors, but are kept off of regular
invoices so as to not muddle client
audits where their customers are
looking at mark-up margins over
producer price)
Spec sheets accompany your price list with
UPC product codes and are your product
descriptions that include all of the information
needed by the distributor to pick-up, deliver,
store, market, bill and pay for your product.
Th ese contain the quality guarantees or statements
that can be used for marketing; perish
ability information; FOB price; terms (net-30,
net-7, net-10 days); invoicing for bill-backs
and auto-deducts; order confi rmations and cut
notifi cations.
Terms are critical to dealing with brokers. You
cannot aff ord to go into market without terms.
Th e most commonly used “terms” in the